Three Must-Read Articles

News Editor

Every Friday we select a handful of in-depth articles we think are worth a bit of your valuable weekend time, either because they peel back the layers on a compelling business story, or somehow make us look at business in a different light.

Jeff Bezos, risk-averse rebel. Time’s Rick Wartzman puts on his Peter Drucker-shaded glasses and finds much to like about Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos. “He is someone with a keen understanding of an essential Drucker insight,” Wartzman writes. Rather than bet the company on one idea and—in Mr. Drucker’s words– “rush around in the frenzy and busyness which very bright people so often confuse with ‘creativity,’” Mr. Bezos has taken a long-term, almost risk-free approach; methodically and deliberately tending to the innovation process, with some ideas—the Kindle, Amazon Web Services, e-commerce domination—taking off. For Mr. Drucker, it’s “the plodder” who “puts one foot in front of the other” who represents the true innovator. “Here’s the part that tends to get missed: if an organization does so [innovates]— constantly and without hesitation — it ultimately reduces its risk,” Wartzman adds. Now Mr. Bezos will take that approach to the Washington Post, his latest acquisition and, coincidentally, Peter Drucker’s one-time employer.

The business habits of highly effective terrorists. “What is true for Walmart is true for al Qaeda,” says Jacob N. Shapiro in Foreign Affairs. Terrorist organizations place much value in bureaucracy to keep tabs on costs and coordinate activities among cells. Like legitimate organizations, much bureaucratic effort is devoted to human resources–terrorists, by nature, have an issue with authority, even their own bosses. Without recourse to legal procedures—terrorism is illegal, FYI—such organizations can place a greater premium on bureaucracy than even your local city government. Top terrorists, like current al Qaeda number one Ayman al-Zawahiri, are also top micro-managers. Shapiro shares an intercepted communiqué of Zawahiri castigating an underling for buying a new fax machine. And therein lies the terrorist organization’s weakness. All this bureaucracy requires communication—phone calls, emails, Excel spreadsheets – that create opportunities for intelligence agencies. “In that way, Zawahiri’s failures are not just a reflection of his personal weaknesses but a case study in the inherent limits that all terror groups face,” writes Mr. Shapiro.

Bullish on digital: McKinsey global survey results. A new McKinsey survey finds increased executive engagement in their company’s digital strategies. Over half the respondents said that CEOs sponsored or were directly engaged in digital-business initiatives such as Big Data analytics, automation or digital engagement with customers. A nine-point jump from last year’s survey, “this growth illustrates the importance of these new digital programs to corporate performance,” McKinsey writes. On the flip side, 32% of the respondents ranked senior management involvement as the top defining factor for a project’s success. Technology infrastructure and tech talent were seen as far less important. Granted, a survey directed at executives may result in a little horn-tooting. But that can’t overshadow what McKinsey identifies as a “bullish” attitude among executives for digital business. The executives tell McKinsey they expect to spend more on digital programs relative to last year’s results. “CEOs are more positive than executives in any other role, with more than one in five saying they expect income from digital to increase by more than 30 percent in three years’ time,” McKinsey writes.

Nearly across the board, mid-market executives are hiring new employees, buying new technology solutions, acquiring businesses to reach new markets and preparing IPOs, according to a Deloitte survey of more than 500 mid-market executives. But companies are running up against a number of constraints as they seek to expand, particularly in acquiring and retaining skilled talent.